


Lotus Eaters

by PearlHavoc



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Friends, Childhood Friends to Lovers, F/F, Slow Burn, White Lotus AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 11:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13997022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PearlHavoc/pseuds/PearlHavoc
Summary: Korra was the only real constant in her short life. Asami didn’t know what the future held, but whatever it held she would like it to include Korra.She’s pulled out her inner monologue by Korra, “Would you want that?” Even in the dark Asami could see the way Korra’s eyes brimmed with curiosity.“I just want to be able to stay with you,” Asami smiles to herself because she knows that it can’t be seen the dark, yawning before adding on, “Whatever that means.”After Yasuko is killed helping protect Korra from the Red Lotus Asami comes to live with Korra and her family. The two slowly form a bond that is not easily broken by distance or time. In which Korra and Asami grow up and into their identities together.





	1. The First Blizzard

The First Blizzard

Tonraq remembered when the blizzard had started. A pack of Polar Bear Dogs had wandered close to the village, it had put the entire village on alert. It took an entire team of hunters to take down a single Polar Bear Dog, an entire pack had the potential to decimate the small village. One of the Village elders had said it was a sign that a storm was brewing. He had been right.

With the blizzard had come so had the Red Lotus. They had come for Korra. At the moment he had prayed to the spirits for a miracle and, he supposed, he had gotten one. Said miracle came in the form of Yasuko. Yasuko was a White Lotus historian, completely untrained in combat, but had managed to hold off the Red Lotus long enough for help to arrive. He, Chief Sokka, and Fire Lord Zuko had managed to stop and capture the terrorists. Yasuko had been killed during the fight.

Tonraq makes his way into the address the White Lotus had handed him. He had not know Yasuko personally. He had read the biography she had written about Avatar Aang. It had been a best-seller everywhere. Senna had read it to Korra as a bedtime story and Tonraq had listened in on more than one occasion. He had offered to take care of her affairs, whatever they may include.

So, he heads clear across town to a small apartment complex that was listed as Yasuko’s place of residence. The door opens after applying some light force. Which makes Tonraq think that the lock didn’t work in the first place. He wouldn’t be surprised, the complex was old and in a state of disrepair. Inside he finds a sparsely furnished apartment. It hardly looks lived in at all. A small pile of furs sits next to the furnace. When the pile of furs starts to move Tonraq knows that something is very very wrong.

The pile of furs sits up when it notices his presence and he notices the resemblance immediately. The girl looked like a carbon copy of Yasuko. “Who are you?” The girl barely manages to get the words out, her throat is raw from coughing.

“My name is Tonraq,” he tries to sound friendly, but his weariness shows through.

“Where’s my mommy? Do you know where she is?” The girl asks, and even in her feverish haze, she notes Tonraq’s serious expression.

“I can take you to her,” the girl nods and he wraps her up in the furs as tightly as he can. The girl was far too light. He guessed that she was about Korra’s age, if a bit older, but she weighs less than her. Tonraq rushes her off to Master Katara’s. The blizzard slows him down, nonetheless, he makes it there in record time. She falls asleep on the way there.

“How is she?” he asks after Katara finishes her examination.

“She’s weak, but she’ll recover,” Katara says, bending the water out of the towel.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s malnourished and has caught a bad fever, she probably hasn’t eaten anything since well before the blizzard started, the fever probably started around the same time, with some food and some proper rest she’ll be fine,” Katara says brushing the girls hair back and placing a new washcloth on her forehead.

“Did you know Yasuko?”

“Not well, she and Aang worked together for a handful of years on his autobiography, we spoke a couple of times about the book, but about little else, she kept to herself mostly, didn’t really associate with other members of the White Lotus, or anyone for that matter, I didn’t know she had a child ,I don’t think anyone did,” Katara putters around the room, crushing herbs and pulling jars from the shelves. It takes Tonraq a moment to realize that they are for the embalming process. Yasuko’s body was currently resting at the makeshift White Lotus headquarters. The White Lotus said that they would bring the body over when the blizzard stopped. What was left of it anyways.

“How did she end up joining them?” Tonraq wonders aloud.

“No idea, back in my day people joined because they knew someone else in the organization. Nowadays people end up in the White Lotus for all sorts of reasons.” They both knew of the changes that the White Lotus had gone through over the past half-century—not all of them had positive.

The girl wakes several hours later, doing much better, but still weak. Tonraq sits at her bedside, as he had been doing for the past few hours, after a few hundred beats he asks “What’s your name little one?”

“Asami, my name is Asami” she rubs the sleep and fever from her eyes.

“Asami, do you remember what happened before you passed out?” Tonraq is not sure how to tell her the news.

The girl appears to contemplate his question, before responding, “Tonraq, where’s my mommy?” The green eyes burn into Tonraq’s skull. They are crystal clear despite her state. Tonraq thinks for a moment that no child should be that serious.

“Do you have any other family than your mom?”

“No, it’s just me and mommy, mommy’s mom and dad died before I was born,” Asami knows that he’s avoiding her question, he has something else to say, so she asks again, “Where’s my mommy?”

“There was an accident,” Asami’s eyes focus on Tonraq intensely, “Some very bad people attacked my family, they were planning on hurting them,” Asami knows that something bad is coming, adults were never honest with you unless something bad was coming. Tonraq can see the emotions flitting across her face, can see her piecing together a narrative. Tonraq feels the tears well up in his eyes at the thought,“I’m sorry,” he lets the tears flow freely, “I didn’t know your mother, and she didn’t know me, but she saved my daughter, and she died saving my daughter.” He watches the information hit the girl. Asami doesn’t start crying right away. She stares off into the distance, whatever distance there is in the tiny windowless room. The light in her eyes fades until it’s nothing more than dying embers. He gives her his hand, and she takes it, but it offers her little comfort. Only after Tonraq leaves the room, does he hear the sobbing start.

-

“When the girl recovers we’ll send her back to Republic City, they’ll have her birth records, and the name of her father,” the White Lotus guard says nonchalantly, wanting to wipe his hands of the matter. Tonraq recognizes him as one of the guards that had come to their home to investigate Korra.

“You’re just going to send her off to live with a stranger?”

“He’s her father, he’s hardly a stranger.”

“She doesn’t know her father! He probably doesn’t even know that she exists!” Tonraq did not think that it would be possible to be more exasperated than he already was, but the guard was somehow pushing every one of his buttons.

“What are you suggesting Tonraq?” The man raises his eyebrow haughtily.

“I’ll take her in,” the words are out of his mouth before he has time to process what he was saying.

“You’d take full responsibility for her?”

“Of course,” and Tonraq realizes that he means it. He owes Yasuko a debt. He didn’t think it were possible for the living to owe the dead so much. But he feels the weight on his shoulders. He heads back home to talk with his wife.

“How’s Korra doing?” It’s the first words out of his mouth when he enters their home.

“She’s fine, she was asleep for all of the incident,” Senna takes his snowshoes and places them near the door. “What happened?” Senna had come to collect Korra immediately after the incident, Tonraq had stayed back to deal with the fallout.

“The woman, Yasuko, the one that helped us save Korra, she has a daughter, and... “ he trails off, not sure to how to approach the topic.

“And she has no other family, and you decided to take her in?” Senna finishes his sentence for him. Tonraq flushes and starts sputtering, “It’s okay Tonraq, I understand, we can’t let her grow up without a family,” Senna smiles warmly, hoping that they would be able to make good on their promise, “How is the girl doing?”

“She’s sick, but Katara expects her to make a full recovery.”

“We should try and bring her home as soon as she’s well enough, it’ll give her time to adjust.”

“Should you tell Korra or should I?”

“You should, I think it will sound better coming from you,” Senna says knowingly, her husband and her daughter were almost spitting images of each other. Tonraq nods silently and heads into the bedroom.

Korra is still curled up in her furs when he enters, he can tell that she’s awake though. “Korra, how are you doing?” Tonraq askes, sitting on the edge of Korra’s bed.

“I’m fine Dad, I had a strange dream though,” Korra rubs the sleep from her eyes, not completely convinced that it was all a dream, but willing to let the issue slide for now.

“What was the dream about?”

“A monster came and took me away from you and mom,” Korra sniffles a little at the thought. She sits up and leans into her father for comfort, he wraps his arm around her.

“I have something important to talk with you about,” he says pulling away slightly.

“What is it?” Korra looks up at him with a kind of morbid curiosity.

“There’s a girl who lost her family and needs a home, and your mom and I talked and we were thinking of letting her stay with us,” Tonraq doesn’t tell the whole truth, not yet, he doesn’t want Korra to feel guilty about something that wasn’t her fault and completely out of her control, “Would you be okay with that?”

Korra nods quickly, not completely understanding the circumstances, but excited at the prospect.

-

Katara helps them make ice lilies for the funeral. Ice lilies were typically reserved for important members of the tribe, elders, great warriors, or Avatars. They were intricate and delicate and bending them required a master’s hand, not many people in the village could make them correctly. Tonraq argues for hours to get permission from the council for the burial, they relent after another hour of deliberation.

Tonraq had been spending time with Asami to keep her company during her recovery.

“Asami, what would you think about coming to live with me and my family?”

“Why are you asking?” She looks up from the Pai Sho board. Katara had found the game buried in the back of her closet. She said it was probably either Sokka’s or Zuko’s. He and Asami had started playing to pass the time. Tonraq had initially planned on letting her win, but the girl picked up the game terrifyingly fast and he was struggling to keep up.

“I’ve talked with my family, and we’d like for you to come live with us.”

“What will happen to me if I don’t go with you?” Asami eyes him critically, weighing her options.

“I don’t know for sure, the White Lotus were talking of sending you back to Republic City and trying to locate your father,” Tonraq is not trying to scare the girl, he’s just stating what he knows. Asami appreciates that.

“I don’t have a father,” Asami says plainly. She doesn’t, not in the way that mattered. Her mother had never mentioned a father all the times she’d asked her. So as far as she was concerned she didn’t have a father. “That’s a terrible plan,” remarks offhandedly, she smirks looking at the Pai Sho board, “I’ve won.”

Tonraq looks at the board exasperatedly, beaten by a child again. “Would you consider it Asami?”

“I’ll come with you,” Asami says after a brief pause. She resets the board quickly, already ready to begin a new game. Tonraq smiles at her response.

-

They had covered Yasuko’s body in ice lilies, placed it in a small boat, it was a tradition for the surviving family to lite the kindling in the boat. The fire was meant to represent the renewal that occurred throughout life. Everything old and dead would become something new.The fire was all consuming but it would cleanse the death from the earth. The boat would be pushed out to sea and the body would be laid to rest somewhere out at sea. Over half of the village attends the funeral, only one or two actually knew Yasuko, but they all come to pay their respects to the woman that helped save Korra’s life. The White Lotus members stationed in the South Pole all attend in full garb.

“We pray to the spirits that Yasuko finds her way to the afterlife and finds peace,” The holy man says the prayer carefully, articulating every syllable far too much. Tonraq’s not sure where the White Lotus found this man.

When the time comes to lite the kindling portion of the ceremony Asami steps forward without hesitation. Asami doesn’t cry during the funeral, she lights the boat with a solemnity that is well beyond her years.

She watches with a morbid curiosity as her mother’s body is consumed by flames. As the ice lilies melt into water and return to the sea. Several of the warriors of the tribe push the boat out to sea. The current takes the boat further and further away from the shore. Until it is far out of sight.

-

Asami completely withdraws after the funeral. She doesn’t speak, barely eats and doesn’t leave her bed except to use the bathroom. Korra was initially excited at the prospect of a constant playmate but quickly grew discontent with the agreement as Asami remained withdrawn.

Senna finally convinces the girl to come to dinner after several weeks of trying, promising a special meal. Said special meal turned out to be sea prune soup. A family favorite. Asami sits on the cushion at the table and picks at her food. Examining each piece with great skepticism.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Korra asks Asami, noticing the other girls lack of interest in her food. She gets very close to Asami, their noses almost touching.

“I don’t like sea prunes, they’re gross,” Asami says, pushing Korra a little further away from her face.

Korra slams her hands on the table so loudly that the other occupants of the table jump. “No, they’re not! They’re delicious!”

“They’re gross and I hate them, I won’t eat them,” Asami sticks out her tongue just to goad Korra.

“Take it back! Take it back!” Korra’s face gets red with anger.

“No,” Asami crosses her arms in defiance.

Korra grabs Asami’s face with one hand and with the other grabs a sea prune from Asami’s bowl, she then tries to pry open Asami’s mouth and force feed her the sea prune. “Eat it! Eat it!” She pushes Asami to the ground, successfully forcing the sea prune into the other girl’s mouth. But Asami just spits the prune back out in Korra’s face, which further enrages the other girl. They grapple on the floor, the sea prune long forgotten. Asami manages to pin Korra on the ground and delivers a strong blow to her face. Korra responds in turn by slamming her head into Asami’s. Korra and Asami end up having an all-out brawl by the end of it. Korra is definitely the stronger one, but Asami is surprisingly scrappy considering how little she had eaten in the past month.

Tonraq and Senna had just been watching the encounter occur, not sure if they should intervene or not, completely dumbfounded by what was going on. When Asami throws the first real hit they shake themselves out of their stupor and into action. It takes them a long time to separate them. Much longer than it should to separate a five and six-year-old.

Asami is red in the face from the exertion, but it’s the most alive she’s looked in weeks. Korra has a bite mark on her forearm but looks surprisingly happy. Exhilarated by the violence. Both of them will probably have bruises by the morning.

“Both of you apologize to each other!” Both girls stay silent from their respective sides of the dining room table. “I’ll give you to count of three, one, two…”

“Sorry…” the girls mutter simultaneously at each other from across the room. Both girls get sent to bed early. The two share a room so Tonraq and Senna just have to hope they don’t resume their brawl. They don’t hear the sound of two kids trying to beat each other senseless, so they take it as a good sign.

In the morning they find the two curled up together in Korra’s bed in the morning. Arms are sprawled everywhere and Korra is drooling on Asami’s hair. Senna manages to convince Asami to bathe after that.

Despite the fight, or maybe because of it, Asami and Korra become closer. As their bruises heal the two quickly become inseparable. Neither really understands how friendships are supposed to work, but they both try and figure it out. Asami still has episodes where all she does is miss her mom and Korra just tries to be supportive during those times. They spend most of their free time playing outside. Their house is quickly labeled a danger zone, many innocent neighbors had been pelted with snowballs, caught in the crossfire of one of their famous snowball fights. Tonraq and Senna don’t really understand how their quick turnaround was possible, but they’re thankful to not have to break up any more fist fights. Senna tries to not make Sea Prune Soup without some other alternative for Asami to eat.

“Have you read this yet?” Korra holds up the book, “It’s really good, it’s about Avatar Aang’s life, the war and his adventures and all of his friends

Asami stares at the book, transfixed. “My mom wrote it,” she reaches out for it, totally enraptured, seeing actual physical proof of what her mother had created.

“No way!” Korra all but screams, Asami instantly recoils at the energy that Korra puts out. Korra was still learning how to communicate with Asami. The other girl was quiet and introverted, two things that Korra was not. Asami was her first real friend, she didn’t want to scare her away.

“Yeah, she worked with Avatar Aang for years to write the book.”

“Did she tell you the stories?” Korra asks, clearly interested but trying to not scare Asami with her enthusiasm.

“She was working on an anthology of stories of some of the past avatars, she used to read it to me her drafts,” Asami remembers falling asleep to the sound of her mother’s voice. She doesn’t want to forget that.

“Would you tell me some of those stories?”

“Maybe sometime,” Asami says quietly. Her mother's drafts had been seized by the White Lotus after her death. She still knew the stories by heart and, she supposed, that other people deserved to hear those stories too. Korra should hear those stories.

-

Senna and Tonraq had guessed that Asami was at least a year older than Korra, probably a bit more. They didn’t know for sure because her birth records were still missing and the Republic City Records Office was woefully slow at returning their calls. They also noticed that she was noticeably smaller than Korra. Which was concerning, Katara said that it was probably a result of her early malnutrition. She hoped that the girl would catch up once she started eating properly.

When the Records Office finally calls them back Asami has been living with them for over three months.

“Hello, is this Tonraq of the Southern Water Tribe?”

“Yes, this is he, who am I speaking to?”

“This is Ran of the Republic City Records Office, I’ve been told that you requested a file that is in our possession?”

“Yes, I’m looking for the birth records of Asami, daughter of Yasuko, born about six or seven years ago.”

“Okay, let me look at what we have,” Tonraq can hear the vague sound of papers rustling through the static-laden line. “Yes, I found her file on, what information were you looking for exactly?”

“I was hoping to find out her birthday, and if her records list a father.”

“Can I ask why you need this information?”

“Asami has been living with my family for some time, and we were hoping to be able to answer some more of her questions about her family.”

“Do you have custody of Asami?”

“Not officially, we were hoping that this information would help us find out more information so we could complete the process down here.”

“I’m sorry I can’t disclose this information to you unless you have legal custody of the girl,”

“Why not?”

“It’s the law, I’m sorry, I can’t do anything about it,” sounds sincere, but it doesn’t help Tonraq’s mood.

Tonraq calls the office back several times but receives the same answer every time. Without the information, Water Tribe laws prevented them from officially adopting Asami. When a child was missing a parent then typically the decision was to not allow the child to be adopted, in case their parent came back for them. The law was archaic and outdated, but any amendment proposed had been shot down by the council. Chief Sokka’s replacement hadn’t been any help either.

Legally they couldn’t adopt Asami, but legally no one could stop Asami from living with them.

-

“What are you doing?” Asami had gone with him into town, Korra Katara, and Senna were trying to teach Korra how to heal. Mixed results so far. Asami had ended up coming with him to the town’s storage facility and makeshift garage. Tonraq did not have a lot of experience with machines, but it appeared that he knew more than most of the people in the village.

“This boat’s engine cut out while the fishermen were out at sea. I’ve been trying to fix it for a while,” he says while tightening a loose bolt, hoping that it would solve the problem. It didn’t and he was back to square one.

Asami starts rummaging through the nearby toolbox, either curious or bored. She pulls several wrenches out of the box and examines them carefully, “What’s the difference between these?”

“Size mostly, each wrench fits a specific type of bolt, you need the right tool for the job.”

Tonraq moves to check the electrical connections, but nothing seems out of place. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Asami thumbing through one of the many manuals littered throughout the storage facility.

At some point, Asami had moved over to stand next to him while he stared blankly at the engine. “Can I see?” Tonraq nods and pulls something over for Asami to stand on. Asami takes a good look inside the engine.

“Can this part be detached?” She points inside the undercarriage of the engine, Tonraq nods and helps the girl detach the part.

Asami examines the newly exposed area, “This part is damaged, look, the engine has been overheating and slowly ruining this part, then the rest of the engine can’t run,” Asami rattles the information off like she’s been doing it for years. Tonraq just stares at her incredulously. He checks the engine after replacing the part and finds that the engine was back in working condition.

Tonraq quickly finds that machines make an inordinate amount of sense to Asami. She studies instruction manuals like they’re fiction novels. He and Senna can’t make heads or tails of it but they try and encourage her interest, asking people from other villages to send them any manuals or other information they have on various machines. She comes back to the shop with him often, often helping him with repairs. Korra doesn’t understand a word of it either but listens as Asami rambles off about, but listens anyway. Always enthralled by Asami’s stories.

-

Asami doesn’t call Tonraq and Senna mom and dad because they aren’t her mom or her dad. Her mom is dead and she doesn’t have a father, no point in having one now. Nonetheless, he likes her new family. They’re very nice. Korra was her first real friend. Before it had just been her and her mom. They moved around a lot because of her mom’s job, always gathering sources or interviewing people. There wasn’t any time to make friends, so she was pretty lonely growing up. Now she had a friend that she lives with. She didn’t think that Korra had a lot of experience with having friends either. The few other children that lived in their village seemed almost afraid of her. It could possibly have to do with the fact that Korra could probably destroy any of them in a fight, or maybe just being that Avatar was enough to scare people away.

Korra liked to hear her stories, likes to know what her past lives were like. She had had no luck so far contacting her past lives. So at least she could learn something about who she was before. Asami understands the notion on the surface level but finds Avatar stuff a bit far-fetched.

“Can I see it?” Korra asks her tentatively, motioning at the rings that hang around Asami’s neck. Asami unclasps the necklace slowly and hands it to her. Korra takes the object gently, examining it with great care, “It’s beautiful,” she says finally.

“My mom told me that it used to be two separate rings and she had them welded together after her parent died,” one of the bands was a light silver and the other was a dull gold, half of the ring was bound together edge to edge, the other half was woven together intricately, like vines. The ring had been one of the few things that the White Lotus had not confiscated after her mother’s death, not that they owned much, to begin with. The main other thing that she had been allowed to keep was a photo of the two of them. They had taken it when her mom had been stationed in Republic City, that was the longest they had stayed in one place.

Korra hands back the necklace reverently, afraid to damage it.

“What are those necklaces that all the women wear called?” Asami tries to describe the chokers that she saw worn around the villages, gesturing as if she had one around her own neck. Korra doesn’t pick up on the charades so Asami draws it out in her sketchpad.

Korra examines the drawing carefully before saying, “Oh, do you mean betrothal necklaces?”

“Is that what they’re called?”

“Yep, when you love someone and you wanna marry them you give them a betrothal necklace and ask them to be with you for the rest of your lives, dad said that they came from the North but now the South started using them too,” Korra lets the information out in a long stream of consciousness, Asami tries to keep it all straight.

“Why doesn’t your mom have one?”

“Mom said it’s because dad didn’t propose that way, he was an immigrant from the North so he wasn't allowed to propose, so mom was the one to propose.”

“So why doesn’t Tonraq have one?”

“I don’t know,” Korra ponders the question for a minute, “You're right that’s weird,” she laughs at the thought of her father wearing a betrothal necklace. Asami soon joins her, not entirely understanding what’s so funny, but finding Korra’s laugh infectious.

-

“Your uncle will be coming to visit us next week,” Tonraq mentioned it offhandedly, hoping that Korra wouldn’t pay too much attention to an announcement made during dinner. He was wrong.

“Ugghhhhhhhh,” Korra moans, lightly banging her head against the table, “Do they have to come?”

“Yes, Korra they have to come if we wait too long for visits you’re going to forget what your cousins look like.”

“They look the same, what’s the difference?” Korra says exasperatedly, face-down on the table. Asami just stares awkwardly between the three other family members, not entirely understanding the situation at hand.

“Korra please try and keep an open mind,” Senna pleads, not entirely liking the idea of Unalaq visiting either, but trying to be mature about it. Tonraq and Unalaq didn’t get along at all, so Unalaq choosing to visit them was a new development.

“What are your cousins like?” Asami asks Korra when they are back in their room.

“Weird, they smell like grandma’s attic and speak in unison, I think they share a brain or something, it’s creepy,” Korra says emphatically, bitter about her cousins visiting.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen them?”

“Dunno, it’s been a while though, last time they were here the village still didn’t have phone lines and they showed up completely out of the blue,” Korra remembers the shocked look on her mother’s face when she opened the door to see her in-laws.

Unalaq and his family arrive late the next week. The adults break off to talk over drinks and the kids are locked in Korra and Asami’s room to avoid interruptions.

“Hello, cousin, hello other, how have you been?” One of the twins asks.

“Desna, Eska, this is Asami,” the twins don’t respond to the introduction, so Korra answers “We’re doing well, what about you?”

“We are fine, the boat ride was long, our mother did not want to come, so she didn’t,” Desna or Eska says flatly. _At least it explained Aunt Malina wasn’t there_ , Korra thought.

Korra looks at Asami briefly for confirmation before asking. “Do you think that it’s possible for humans and spirits to live in peace?”

Desna and Eska look at the other pair skeptically, “Cousin and other, why are you asking us this?”

“Korra said that you both know a lot about spirits and we were hoping you might know something about the topic,” Asami says trying to sound confident in front of the very creepy twins. She and Korra had been the discussing the issue greatly after Asami regaled the tale of Avatar Yangchen. They hadn’t come to any real conclusions so far.

“We have heard stories of humans and spirits living in peace, but most of the time it didn’t end well, or required a sacrifice.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s been too long since spirits and humans have lived together, it would be hard for them to start now, we’ve heard of spirits stealing children from their beds, it’s a pity that this hasn’t happened to us,” Korra thinks Eska is the one to stay that. Korra and Asami look at each other quickly, not sure what to make of the declaration.

“Being kidnapped by spirits would be fun, we could have learned a lot about spirits by living amongst them,” the other twin says just as flatly.

“That is assuming we were not killed first,” Korra laughs at first before realizing that the statement wasn’t meant as a joke.

“Don’t you think you’d miss your family?” Asami asks.

“We want progress, our parents would understand,” Desna says.

“Past Avatars always have had to resolve some issues between spirits and humans, have you had any luck with this cousin?” Eska continues where her twin left off.

Korra flushes with embarrassment but counters with “Have you ever communicated with the spirits?”

“We personally have not, but our father has, he intends to teach us once we are older.”

“Communicating with spirits isn’t impossible, but it is very difficult,“ one of the twins responds, “Cousin, you are the Avatar, communicating with the spirits is part of your nature,” Desna, Korra thinks at least, cocks his head slightly to the side. Eska remains upright. The conversation falls into an unbearable silence after that. Unalaq, Eska, and Desna spend the rest of the week in the South Pole before making a hasty retreat back to the North Pole. Her father had said that Uncle Unalaq had come to discuss the logistics of some grown-up stuff. He said that Korra needn’t concern herself with such things.

-

“We want Korra to come live in the compound,” they had brought the matter to Tonraq and Senna first, hoping that they would be reasonable and agree. Korra and Asami were out playing in the snow with Master Katara. Korra had just turned nine two weeks ago.

“Would we be able to see her regularly?” Senna asks.

“When the timing is right, we don’t want to interrupt her training too often,” one of the White Lotus members says pointedly. Senna can’t help but think he’s lying. The White Lotus had started out as a secret society, now it was something similar to a small military force.

The White Lotus leaves them with the decision to make as if they had a choice at all.

“I don’t know if I feel comfortable with letting Korra grow up away from her family,” Senna broaches the conversation carefully, not sure where it would go.

“I can’t say I like it either, but I want her to be safe,” Senna could agree with that.

“I know, I do too, but is it really the best thing for her to not grow up around other people?” _Shouldn’t the Avatar know how to live amongst other people?_ Senna thought.

“It might be the only way to keep her safe,” and with these words the conversation ends, not because either of them wants it to, but because neither of them knows what would come next.

They try and bring the subject up at dinner the next day.

“I don’t want to go!” Korra says as soon as the news leave their mouth. Senna recognizes the stubbornness from Tonraq. They both got the same indignant look in their eyes.

Korra stomps off to her room in a huff. Tiny burnt footprints follow her. Senna pulls some water from the stove to put on the scorch marks before they ruin the whole rug. Senna sees Tonraq’s brow creases, if Korra didn’t want to go, they wouldn’t make her, but they hoped that she’d be safer within the walls of the compound.

“I’ll go with her,” Asami finally speaks after her prolonged silence throughout the dinner. “Korra shouldn’t be alone.” Asami had made her decision the moment that the announcement had been made.

“Asami you don’t have to go just for Korra’s sake,” Senna says quickly, not wanting her to make a decision just for Korra’s sake.

Asami stares straight ahead at them, “It’s my decision, I want to stay with Korra.” Senna thinks that the girl has never been more serious about anything.

The White Lotus surprisingly agree to their terms quickly. Asami and Korra are moved into the compound by the end of the month.

-

The White Lotus start Asami off learning basic forms. They have to modify most of them to suit a nonbender such as herself. She learns the best places to strike different types of benders. Firebenders draw their energy from their breath, the best strikes are to the base of the stomach, the throat and in emergencies the ribs. Earthbenders didn’t have a specific place that was best to strike, but cutting their connection to the ground was always a good bet. Waterbenders used flowing movement to manipulate water, so, if possible, it was a good idea to limit their range of mobility. After she’s mastered the basics they move her on to chi blocking. She likes learning the mechanics of the human body. Humans aren’t that different from machines. Both have different things that can cause them to almost completely stop working.

She and Korra spar often, with chi blocking she stands a much better chance of winning. Korra calls it cheating and Asami calls her a sore loser.

Korra begins her formal waterbending training with Katara. Katara is one of the few links to their old lives. Korra had been training with her since she was even younger the only difference was that now it was serious. Korra had to learn proper forms and the names of specific techniques. She thinks that it’s dumb that she has to learn all this stuff but Asami helps her memorize the names.

Despite the grand size of the compound Korra and Asami end up sharing a room again. They rearrange the furniture in their room a couple different times before they find an arrangement that they like. The beds are pushed together, making a makeshift King size bed. They each have their own space, but there’s room so that they can be close to each other if they want to.

“Good night,” Korra stretches out her arm and reaches for Asami’s hand.

“Good night,” Asami reaches out as well and links their hands together.


	2. Second Blizzard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami try and adjust to living in the compound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trapped inside my house all day and figured I should try and update this.

Living in the compound is hard. Not just because of how boring it is, both of them miss Tonraq and Senna, and despite the White Lotus’ promises they rarely saw the two. Their visits were limited to special occasions like Korra’s Birthday or New Year’s celebrations. 

Every day had a strict schedule. They would train, eat, spar, eat again, occasionally spend some time learning boring history, then close the day with more training. The White Lotus turned their lights off early, so there was little time for much else. Even though Korra and Asami spent hours in the dark trading stories. Asami was surprised to learn how little actual education their training included. The history they learned was mostly related to the origin of various bending techniques. She thought that it would be prudent for the Avatar to learn about their past lives. The White Lotus did not agree. 

After she had learned the basics of chi blocking her Asami is slow to realize that her training was becoming more and more  _ drastic _ . She learns how to break a nose or an arm with as little force or provocation necessary—and soon she didn’t need to think about it at all. She’s even slower to realize that they’re teaching her to  _ maim _ people, not just fight them. They want her to know how to be able to kill or injure someone should she need to. The deeper, unsaid meaning, should  _ Korra _ need her to. And she would do anything for Korra. And so she learns. 

The White Lotus give her directions and she follows them because it was for Korra’s sake. That’s what they told her all the time, they drilled it into her head until it was all she thought she knew and maybe it was. Even though she knows, at least she thinks she knows, that Korra would never ask her to hurt people on her behalf. Never without a reason, and never with the same level of violence that the White Lotus trained her to use. 

The White Lotus was quick to reprimand her for any mistakes that she made. Most of the time they let the wounds of the days training be reminder enough. Asami had had black eyes and bruised ribs from her failures before, inclining her to make fewer mistakes in the future. Inclining her to trust the White Lotus less and less. She chose to believe in them because her mother believed in them and they were supposed to keep Korra safe. Sometimes Asami wonders if any of that had ever been true. 

-

Korra’s training is more concentrated on bending. They needed her to learn how to fight, to use her bending as a weapon if necessary. They never told her what situation would warrant this necessary force though. She still couldn’t airbend, she couldn’t contact her past lives, and she still didn’t know how she was supposed to be the Avatar without those things either. But they still expected her to be the Avatar despite all of this. Korra, frankly, didn’t understand any of it. 

Their time alone at the end of the day was one of the few times that they were allowed to be themselves. They could unwind from their training and get the vague feeling of being human back, if only for a few hours. Korra practiced healing on whatever injuries they had accumulated over the course of the day. Her progress was slow but she was getting better every day. 

“What do you think you wanna be when you grow up?” It was the current topic of their late night conversations. The White Lotus had turned off their lights hours ago, but neither of them could sleep. Korra had her career planned out for her already,  _ obviously _ , she would be the Avatar, she would master the four elements then try and keep the world in balance. At least she was pretty sure that’s what Avatars did, some of her previous incarnations did not do such a good job at this. Korra had been quite upset to hear the story of Avatar Kuruk, even more so when she realized that he was from the Water Tribe. She wasn’t fond of Roku either, now that she was thinking of it. 

“I don’t know, I could become an engineer, fix cars, build trains and stuff like that, or I could join the White Lotus, then I could stay with you.” The White Lotus hadn’t been her mother’s dream, that was what she had told her all those years ago, anyway. Although, Asami suspects that it had been a fallback plan at best. She had joined up after falling pregnant with Asami, her parents long dead, and no husband to speak of; she marketed the only skill she had, writing. Her mother had always tried to be honest with her about this.  _ “I want you to know where we come from, and that whatever I’ve done in the past isn’t your fault.” Her mother holds her close rather than continuing. She doesn’t understand what she means but leans into the embrace anyways.  _ These days Asami thinks that her mother was expecting an awful lot from a five-year-old when she told her that. What had her mother done that was so dire to need forgiveness? 

Korra was the only real constant in her short life. Asami didn’t know what the future held, but whatever it held she would like it to include Korra. 

She’s pulled out her inner monologue by Korra, “Would you want that?” Even in the dark Asami could see the way Korra’s eyes brimmed with curiosity. 

“I just want to be able to stay with you,” Asami smiles to herself because she knows that it can’t be seen the dark, yawning before adding on, “Whatever that means.” And maybe she would prefer it to not include the White Lotus, but if that was what it takes, she would do it. She curls further into Korra’s open arms and lets sleep finally take her. 

-

It’s Asami’s birthday, or at least that’s what Korra yells at her after violently shaking her awake. She’s turned seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and now twelve in the South Pole. Each and every birthday had been different, this one began with Korra throwing her warmest parka at her and bending a tunnel in the middle of their room. After hastily covering the entrance of the tunnel they’re crawling their way to freedom, and penguins. 

“I can’t you believe you broke us out of the compound to go sledding,” Asami shivers next to a perfectly warm Korra. Even after six years in the south she was still not used to the cold. Secretly she didn’t think she’d ever get used to it. 

“Not just sledding Asami,  _ Penguin Sledding _ ,” Korra emphasizes the second half of the sentence like it's supposed to mean something to her. She thinks that she had heard other village children talking about it but had never been invited to participate. She and Korra had never been involved with the other children, they saw them as anomalies, even if none of the other children had any idea what that word meant. A foreigner and the Avatar, it was hard to get weirder than that in their tiny village. And maybe she was just too young to understand why those factors made the other children not want to play with them but it stung all the same. 

“So how do we do this?” Asami asks, rubbing her hand furiously to warm them up. Korra had neglected to grab her mittens in their rush. 

“Well first we have to catch a penguin,” Korra points up the hill to the flock of penguins. Before any of the birds can start to waddle away Korra runs to the top of the hill and tackles one of the penguins to the ground, they roll back down the hill and end up at Asami’s feet. Korra stands up with the penguin in a definitive headlock, no way it was getting out of that. “Okay, hold onto this one while I grab another one,” Korra shoves the penguin into her arms and Asami quickly tries to form a vice grip to stop it from escaping. 

“Wouldn’t this be easier if we had bait or something?” Asami tries her best to keep her penguin from escaping while Korra hunts down another penguin. 

“That would take all of the fun out of it!” Korra yells as she tackles another penguin. Korra grabs her penguin and drags it up to the top of the hill, “Asami, come on, get up here!” 

Asami drags her penguin up to the top of the hill, it bites her and tries to escape but she makes it up there eventually. 

“Okay, all you have to do is get on the penguin’s back and slide down the hill,” Korra says it like its the easiest thing in the world. Even though Asami’s already sure that their penguins are not at all interested in cooperating. 

Asami doesn’t even make it down the hill the first time. Her penguin bucks her off and tries to waddle away, but Asami is faster and catches it. Korra’s is marginally more docile and lets her make it to the bottom of the hill the first time. Asami cheers and almost loses her penguin in the process. By the second or third time down the hill, the Penguins have resigned themselves to their fate as sleds. By the tenth or eleventh time, the penguins have warmed up to them. Nipping their pockets for any sign of treats. They don’t find any but cuddle up to them all the same. 

The White Lotus finds them there, hours later, and by then they’re both exhausted and covered in snow and Penguin spit. When they’re finally caught the White Lotus drags them back to their room with newly reinforced floors. 

Asami thinks that it’s one of her best birthdays yet. 

-

Korra didn’t think that it was possible to get bored of bending, but it happens. The White Lotus somehow manages to suck all of the fun out of being able to control the four elements. All she does, every day, is practice her forms and spar. These days she and Asami barely even get to spar together anymore. Her trainers claim that their styles are too incompatible now. Even Korra can tell that they’re lying through their teeth. 

“Korra, tuck your elbow in,” one of her sentinels' barks, it’s hard to keep track of them all, she’s probably only learned the names of only two or three correctly, not that any of them typically lasted longer than a few months. She only grunts in response as she throws another stone at the Sentinel. He dodges and hurls another volley of rocks back at her that she tries to redirect but fails to get all of them. One grazes her elbow and the other hits her square in the stomach and she’s sent flying back. She’s knocked flat on her back and she can’t help but groan as she looks up at the sky. She thought she was past this point already. 

She had mastered waterbending at around ten, that was easy, she had been training in waterbending since she was in diapers. Her earthbending was coming along nicely but she was probably a few years off of mastery. After that, she would learn firebending and then Tenzin would come down to stay in the compound and train her in airbending. And then she would be a fully fledged Avatar, and then she didn’t know what would happen. At the rate, they were going the White Lotus probably wouldn’t let her leave the compound even then. The adults around her had always told her to be patient. Having been rather tight-lipped about anything from the next day’s training exercises to the plan for the next five years. When her sentinel uses earthbending to force her back to her feet she shoots a volley of fire at him before sweeping his legs out from under him with a water whip. He and the rest of the White Lotus watching refuse to call it a victory, but she chalks it up as a win anyway. 

They make her run the drill over and over again until she can redirect earthbending back at opponents. At the end of their session she offers the sentinel an offer of good faith by only burning one of his eyebrows off in a surprise attack, she decides that he looks better with just the one. Maybe now she’ll have a reason to remember his name. 

Later, when the day is finally done, she decides to broach the topic. “What should we do?” she needed to know what Asami would do, Asami always knew what to do. 

“About what?”

“This,” Korra waves her arms around  “This situation, the White Lotus, everything.”

“What do you mean exactly?”

“We’re basically living in prison, and we … we haven’t even done anything wrong! And all we get to do all day is train and we’re still not even sure what our endgame is!” Korra reaches out towards the ceiling from her prone position, flailing her arms wildly before giving up. Exasperated and slowly hitting the point of exhaustion she lets her arms fall back to her side.  

“Korra,” Asami reaches out for Korra’s hand, gripping it tightly, hoping to offer some kind of comfort to the other girl, “I don’t know what to do,” the other girl admits quietly. 

“I don’t know either,” Korra acquiesces, switching to lying on her side to face Asami. 

“Do we just wait until something happens?” Asami turns to face Korra as well. 

“Maybe, I don’t know,” and maybe there wasn’t a good answer to her question, but she wanted one. Some satisfying answer that the adults around her would never give her; that there was some point to what they were doing. She wanted to see the world she was supposed to protect. “We could just wait to see what the future has in store for us.” 

“Things can always change,” and something in Asami’s voice gives Korra comfort, so she lets the matter drop. Even if the question bounces around in her mind even as she sleeps. 

-

A pack of polar bear dogs comes close to the compound, they howl all night and everyone can sense a storm coming, blizzards in the south are notorious, and somehow this one feels like it’s going to be worse. 

Despite the weather, they still have to train outside. Asami complains about the cold even when it's technically summer in the south. With the storm brewing her lips are too frozen to complain even her usual amount. 

It was supposed to be a training exercise. They’d done hundreds before. It had been a long time since they let Korra and her spar together though. She thought that maybe they were trying to isolate them from each other, which didn’t make that much sense as they still shared a room. She didn’t know what their endgame was but knowing the White Lotus it could be anything. 

Asami had dispatched the first guard quickly, slamming the heel of her hand into the man’s chin and using her body weight to knock him to the ground. The White Lotus had instructed her to not use deadly force in training exercises, not that they ever told her when it was appropriate to use deadly force. Hopefully never. 

The second had shot a burst of fire at her, she chi blocks his arms easily and sweeps his feet out from under him. 

She turns to the last one standing. The guard smiles at her briefly before lunging forward. She’s slow to realize the glint of something in his hand. 

There was a sharp pain in her abdomen like she’d been punched, but she manages to stay standing. She launches herself at the guard, catching him by surprise and knocks him on his back. She then notices that he’s holding a knife. She forces it out of his hand and uses it to pin him to the ground. She stands up to attend to the remaining guards. They stare at her incredulously and Asami can’t figure out what’s wrong. 

Asami feels a strange wetness around her abdomen. She reaches down to try and figure out where it’s coming from. Her hand comes away bloody. And then suddenly she’s falling to her knees because her legs can’t hold her anymore. She looks up at the other guards staggering to their feet and they don’t seem shocked anymore. They look like the plan worked perfectly. 

It was no secret that Korra had not yet been able to access the Avatar state.  _ So that was their game,  _ Asami wonders briefly. She doesn’t have much more time to wonder because one of the White Lotus members walks up to her slowly and gives her a slight shove, it’s all it takes to send her toppling over. It’s then that she realizes that there was so much blood. 

Her vision swims and she tries to wait it out but it just doesn’t stop. She uses one hand to try and staunch the blood flow and the other to clutch her head as if that will make much of a difference. But the blood keeps seeping through her fingers and the cold keeps worming its way into her skin. It didn’t hurt, that was the strangest thing of all. She could feel the hot and sticky liquid all over her fingers, the sheer amount of blood staining the ground was enough to tell her that she was hurt, but there wasn’t any pain. Maybe that would come later. 

-

One of the sentinels sends a volley of rocks her way and Korra easily redirects them back at another White Lotus member. They hit him square in the jaw and he crumples to the ground clutching his face. She uses the surprise of the first attack to freeze the snow underneath the third guard. They slip and slide for a long moment before realizing that they could melt the ice. But by the time that happens Korra has already bound their hands and feet in earth. She focuses back on the first one in record time. Instead of getting back into a bending stance she closes the gap between them before Korra can even react. Knocking her to the ground and holding her arms behind her back. It’s only then does she get to see what’s happening on the other side of the field. 

Korra gets a front row ticket to see the White Lotus member produce the blade and plunge it into Asami’s abdomen. The horrible mixture of adrenaline and anger spurs her to flip positions with her captor and start off in the direction of Asami. 

More guards appear, practically out of nowhere, or maybe that was just the raging blizzard giving them cover. “Let me help her! Move!” Korra shouts over the roar of the storm as she tries to push past the White Lotus blocking her path. She throws herself at the blockade, hoping to break through, instead they grab her arms and force her onto her knees. Korra tries to wiggles out of their grasp but they hold tight. 

“Hold still Avatar,” the man on her right says barely above a whisper. From her vantage point, she sees Asami collapse to the ground clutching her stomach. Even from the distance, she can see the snow start to stain red. 

“Let me go! Let me help her!” 

“You know what you have to do to save her, Avatar.” Except she doesn’t, Korra feels her tears freeze to her cheeks, whether they're in frustration or fear is lost to her. Struggling in vain to get her body to do  _ something _ . Instead, her shoulders sag letting the reality of the situation set in. 

And suddenly she does. Power, more than she ever thought possible courses through her veins. She feels the weight of every Avatar in her very soul and she knows what she can do. She knows what she is capable of. The snowstorm pauses and the moments of shock and confusion she throws her jailers off and into bindings of their own. When more try to advance she lets the blizzard rage on, making it attack her assailants and only then is she able to make her way across the field. 

-

Even through the snow, Asami could see Korra’s eyes start to glow. What followed, she wasn’t quite sure if it was real or due to blood loss. Dark spots continue to invade her vision. The darkness feels more and more welcoming with each passing second. She blinks and the blizzard stops for a moment. The next time that she opens her eyes the blizzard is back with a vengeance. Her head pounds and she rests her eyes. 

She feels the vague sense of being lifted then carried and then she finally gives in and lets the inky blackness take her. 

-

The power flows through her just long enough for her to blast a hole in the compound’s walls with firebending and then Korra is on her own. She gets them as far away from the compound as she can on foot and bends a quick shelter out of a snowbank, she lays Asami down as gently as she can, “Asami? Asami, stay with me,” Asami makes some noise of pain and Korra takes as a sign that she’s still breathing. She tears a chunk of the wall out, melting it for healing. The snow starts to glow, and Korra moves to the wound on Asami’s abdomen, but the water loses its glow before it reaches Asami, splashing harshly against the exposed skin, Asami makes a noise of protest at the temperature. “Dammit, dammit, spirits damn it, why can’t I do this?” Healing had never been second nature to her, Katara had taught her everything she knew but not everything had taken. 

Asami had lost too much blood to wait around until the storm passed. Thinking quickly Korra warms her hands with firebending and places her hand over the wound, “Asami, this is going to hurt, I’m sorry, but it’s the only way I can close the wound,” Asami blinks weakly, and Korra is too worried to wait for further confirmation. She makes a tiny blade of fire in the palm of her hand and moves it to the wound. Korra offers her hand so Asami has something to scream into, the other girl bites down so hard that the mark is still visible weeks later. Korra tries to be quick, but the wound is bigger than she thought, so she has to take her time. Asami screams in her hand but doesn’t struggle against the fire. 

By some miracle, the wound closes. 

Korra waits out the storm as long as she can, she wants to leave right before the storm dies down completely. The moment that the storm dies completely the White Lotus will probably be on their tail. It was hard to tell if a storm was ready to die, sometimes it would look like it was ready to croak and would instead it would come back stronger than ever.  She decides to take a chance. 

She makes a whirlwind of snow to cover their movements, carrying Asami as gently as she can on her back. She makes to the harbor and picks a ship at random. They’re onboard and no one is the wiser. The storm finally dies down and they are already headed far away from the South Pole. 

Korra learns from eavesdropping that the ship is heading to some port town in the southern reaches of the Earth Kingdom. They hunker down in one of the unused storage closets and hope for the best. 

Asami is still feverish and weak, having barely said anything other than vague noises of protest whenever Korra moved her too roughly. 

Asami opens her eyes after hours of shallow breathing, “Korra, where are we?” 

Korra nearly passes out in relief at the sight, “On a ship,” she hurriedly explains, then pauses, realizing that that was the end of her information. 

“Where are we going?” 

“I don’t know, I just got us on the first ship I saw,” she laughs at the incredulity of the situation, although it comes out as more hysterical than anything. 

“Are we okay?” 

And Korra’s not sure what okay means at this point, but she replies “Yes, yes we are.” Asami nods almost imperceptibly and closes her eyes, falling back asleep within moments. Korra finally lets her eyes droop and follows soon after. 

They fall asleep to the gentle rocking of the boat as it cuts through the waves. They wake up with the whole world open to them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a plan for this story but have no idea how to execute it.


	3. Open World

They don’t know when or if the White Lotus will come after them. On the ship, they formulate all sorts of different ideas about what to do when they finally got off the ship. Of course, they don’t know where the ship is headed so it’s all pure speculation, but it helps calm their nerves. When they do finally get off of the ship they don’t give themselves time to think about it. The voyage takes about a week and a half and Asami heals up enough for them to start running soon as they get off the boat. 

They spend their first six months in the Earth Kingdom hitchhiking around the southern regions, they originally planned to head to someplace with anonymity, maybe Ba Sing Se, but these plans fall through quickly when not one person will take them even close to the walled city. Apparently to enter the city one needs a registered Earth Kingdom ID. Said ID costs several hundred yuan a piece and proper paperwork. Neither of them had any money on them when they left, not that either of them had ever had any money. The White Lotus took care of everything they could need, money was never even a factor. That’s not even to mention the lack of identification. They still weren’t sure when Asami’s birthday was, getting any form of legitimate identification would be a stretch. 

Instead, they decide that the Earth Kingdom was large enough that if they keep moving they wouldn’t be caught. A month was the longest that they stayed in any place. The baker’s wife starts to recognize them as they dig through the days' old bins and they know it’s time to move on. 

When they first got off the boat Korra attempted to burn off her ponytail, and Asami manages to stop her before she burns her eyebrows off. A few towns later Asami manages to lift a knife off of the butcher’s counter while Korra pretends to beg for food. It’s a butcher’s knife and not ideal for the gutting the fish that Korra pulls from the river, but they make do. With the knife in hand, she shears off her ponytail and gives herself a lopsided bob. She doesn’t give Asami much warning before giving Asami one to match. Asami misses the weight of her hair but has to admit that they both look different enough that it would be harder to recognize them. 

Originally, their plan was to just travel by foot, but with Asami still recovering they are quick to realize that hitchhiking provided much more anonymity and faster travel. Passersbys are reluctant to pick up two strange girls, but after some well-timed crying, they typically relent. Their current form of transportation was an old farmer who had been easily swayed by Asami’s well-timed tears. 

“Where’re you two headed?” The farmer calls from the front of the cart. He told them his name, but neither of them had thought it pertinent enough to remember it. It didn’t matter anyway, he had already offered them a ride. 

“Wherever you’re headed?” Korra shrugs from the back of the ostrich horse cart. 

“We just need a ride,” Asami adds, settling next to her. 

“Any reason why?” 

“No reason, in particular, we just need to get away from it all for a while.”

The farmer doesn’t comment further, having given up on getting any real information out of either of them. Kids ran away all the time, usually, they were back at home within the week. He drops them off a few towns over, he heads to the market and they start looking for someplace to camp out until the market ends. They could usually catch a ride someplace far away after the markets closed. 

After ten months of backtracking all over the country, they decide that it's safe enough for them to settle down for a while. They don’t really think about where they’re heading while they’re on their hitchhiking sojourn, so when they finally decide to stop they’re still in the southern regions of the Earth Kingdom, it’s not ideal but Asami thinks that the White Lotus will have likely searched the area already. Gaoling is hardly a small town, but it’s not particularly large either. The city lacked the towering skyscrapers that Asami vaguely remembered of Republic City, but had buildings taller than either of them had ever seen in the south. An Earthbending Academy is one of the few attractions that the town has to its name. Their first night in the city they find a coupon for one free earthbending lesson stuffed in the trash. Korra goes to the first class alone, it’s boring but educational, so she enrolls full time. The tuition is steep so, for the first time in their lives, Korra and Asami enter the workforce. 

-

Gaoling has six different mechanics shops and Asami tries every single one of them until one of them takes pity on her and offers to let her sweep the floors for some meager income. They don’t take her seriously. At all. But they let her mess around on the Satomobiles that come through the shop during her lunch break, just for kicks. 

They’ve been in the town for a little over a month, they’ve put down enough roots for Asami to start letting her bosses get to know her, or at least the version of herself that wouldn’t get them caught. “You still messing with that engine girlie?” Adi calls out from his seat at the lunch table. Adi and his younger brother Yuda own the shop. Asami thinks that they could easily pass for twins. They both shared a darker complexion and dark green eyes. Their staff was bare bones, besides the brothers who worked on the cars, Yuda’s wife kept track of the books and a third mechanic worked freelance on their busy days.

“It’s Misa, don’t call me girlie,” she continues tinkering around with the engine. The name had been Korra’s idea, she thought that it would be too easy for them to be tracked if people knew their real names. 

“That engine’s as good as dead, eat your lunch,” Adi calls out next to his brother. 

“I didn’t bring a lunch and there’s nothing better to do,” Asami calls back from underneath the automobile. Everything appeared to be in order, that was the weird part. She checks the wiring and notices a blown fuse, she rummages through the toolboxes scattered around the floor. Finding the spare part she quickly replaces the fuse. The car doesn’t start but it manages a sputter at least. She checks the wires again and adjusts the looser wires and tries the engine again, it starts right up. 

The brothers collectively decide to take her on as an apprentice soon after, the pay is slightly better and Yuda’s wife sends her home with leftovers more often than not. The work is fulfilling for her. It’s why she didn’t take just any job when they came to town. She likes working with her hands and she’s good at working on cars. She can’t really explain the feeling, but the tools almost feel as if she were meant to hold them and use them. 

-

Asami’s promotion and relatively stable source of leftovers puts them so very close to being able to comfortably afford tuition. Korra doesn’t have the schedule or skill set to hold down even a part-time job. So, she takes on whatever odd jobs around town she can when she’s not in class. Some days she’s delivering packages, others she’s babysitting kids of wealthy socialites. Korra likes kids, well she likes them enough to keep them from hurting themselves until their parents get back from dinner or whatever else they’re doing. Either way, the pay is good enough that she keeps watching them. 

The Earthbending Academy is not particularly profound, and Korra still hates school, but she feels like she learns a lot just from being around other Earthbenders. During lunch sometimes she spars with some of her classmates it’s unorthodox and technically illegal but it’s  _ so fun _ . The White Lotus may have been trained fighters but kids are  _ creative _ . They’re not afraid to play dirty and Korra comes back from lunch soaked in mud every now and then. Sometimes Asami will take her lunch break at the same time and come and watch her. Korra is much more motivated to win when she knows she has an audience to disappoint. 

The headmaster will only break up fights if they get too rowdy. From watching some of the older boys spar, rowdy basically means someone either draws blood or breaks a bone, everything else is on the table. Korra is a rough fighter by nature but learns quickly to adapt to the general lunchtime brawls. It only takes her a week to understand the rules enough that she feels comfortable enough to spar with another girl from her class. She loses, but at least she feels like she’s learning something. Her stance was too unbalanced, she let herself be swept off her feet by some loose gravel all too easily. Every action has its own reaction, and every mistake could be rectified and learned from. It takes her about a month to win against someone from her class, they’ve all been doing this far longer than she has and Korra considers it an accomplishment all the same. By the sixth month, she can beat almost anyone in her class. At month seven,  older boys start agreeing to spar with her. It takes her until month nine to even get close to beating one of them. After almost a year in Gaoling she finally manages to knock Qigang, an older boy whose family Korra has babysat for before, flat on his back. 

Asami cheers loudly and comes up to congratulate her. Qigang scoffs, picking himself off the ground, dusting himself off and mutters under his breath loud enough that they both hear him call Asami a  _ hāfu.  _ Neither of them has any idea what that word means but from the way the boy says it, it can’t be anything good. After saying it the boy laughs and shoves past Asami roughly, chattering with his friends. 

“What did you just say to her?” Korra grabs the boy by his shoulder roughly, making him face her. His green eyes don’t seem even a little afraid of her. His friends take a step back, sensing that a fight was brewing. No one ever had the guts to mention how strange it was that a Water Tribe girl could earthbend, Korra was far too strong to even try and target. Her friend seemed like a much easier target.

“I called her what she is,” he puts his hands up like Korra’s being unreasonable. Even years after the war and colonization had ended there was still a stigma about mixed children. The level of stigma varies from region to region and varied greatly based on what the child looked like. Gaoling was not colonized during the Fire Nation occupancy, unlike some more western territories, so when the war ended there was no integration to be had. The citizens of Gaoling just wanted the Fire Nation out of its city, even now.  “ Hāfu, is for mixed trash like her,” He spits,  _ literally spits,  _ at Asami and shakes out of Korra’s grip. Asami has to grab Korra’s arm to keep her from punching him, putting herself between Korra and the offender. 

“Nika, don’t,” Asami lowers her voice, her eyes shift to something behind Korra, she glances back to see the headmaster monitoring the situation carefully, Asami whispers in her ear, “I’ll take care of it,” Asami turns around abruptly and walks up to the offender. She doesn’t pause before slamming her fist into his face. The force causes him to stumble back clutching his nose as blood spurted out of it. 

“What the hell you fucking hāfu _?”_ His voice is nasally and Korra can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it sounds. His friends back away slowly, not wanting to end up in the fight. 

“Say that word again and I’ll break something else,” Asami’s voice lowers, and even though Asami isn’t a bender, Korra swears that the temperature drops several degrees. 

The boy doesn’t say anything, he tries to hide the fear stricken look that passes his face cycles through, but Asami sees it anyways. Not deterred, he gets into a basic earthbending stance, pulling blocks of earth from the ground and chucking them at Asami. She weaves out of their way easily. Before he even know what hit him Asami chi blocks him into submission. His legs won’t hold him up anymore so he crumples to the ground easily. Asami can almost hear the flip of a switch in her brain, a voice that isn’t her own that tells her to finish him off. Before she can think to follow through or stop herself the headmaster grabs her wrist 

“Miss, I think you’ve caused enough trouble for today, please leave the premises,” the Headmaster says grabbing the rest of Asami’s arm and moving her towards the gate. The switch flips off and she lets a breath out that she didn’t know that she had been holding. 

“I’ll see you back at home Korra,” Asami waves as back at Korra as the Headmaster escorts her out of the gates. Korra waves back easily, smiling broadly. 

-

“Do you think we’re safe?” Korra asks one night, it had been a late night and both of them are exhausted. Asami had been stuck at the shop for over eleven hours, someone was going around slashing tires and stealing gas. So, almost every car in town had been in and out of the shop at least once in the last week. Korra had to stay late at the Earthbending Academy, apparently, her form needed work. 

“I think we’re safe enough,” Asami flops down next to her, exhausted by the long day. Unable to afford both rent and tuition they were currently squatting just outside the city limits. Squatting within city limits was a fineable offense, outside of the city, nobody cared. 

“Do you think they’re still after us?” 

“I don’t know, but it’d be pretty hard to find us after all of the backtracking we did.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me, I don’t ever want to have to sit in the back of an Ostrich Horse trailer ever again.” 

“Hey you’re not the one who got spit on, you don’t get to complain,” Asami tries to sound serious, but starts laughing as soon as Korra starts laughing. They had been in the Earth Kingdom for what? Almost two years? If the White Lotus was going to find them they would have by now. 

Another night, when the moon is new, and Korra and Asami are curled up at their campsite looking at all of the new stars. They were so different than what they saw in the South Pole. Summer’s were a new experience for the both of them as well. Asami had seen a handful of them when she was younger but nothing compared to the sweltering temperatures that the Earth Kingdom hit. As soon as they had the funds both of them had ditched their clothes from the compound, not wanting another link that the White Lotus could track them by. 

Korra sits up slowly, not wanting to alert Asami, she starts offhandedly, like she hasn’t been practicing this speech for months, “I was the reason your mom died, wasn’t I?” Asami doesn’t answer, just continues to count the stars, “My parents always dodged the question, I had to ask Master Katara about it and even she dodged the question more often than not,” Korra takes in a deep breath and practices her breathing for a moment, “I finally cornered her after one of our training sessions and she told me everything,” Korra takes a deep breath, willing herself to finally ask what has been marinating in her gut for months, “Do you blame me for it?” 

“Korra, why would I blame you for it? It wasn’t your fault,” Asami sits up abruptly to meet her gaze. 

“Because I’m the reason you grew up without a mom, she died protecting me, and now I’ve dragged you into all of this shit! You nearly died because of me! We’re on the run from the White Lotus! We’re barely surviving as is! How many more times will having known me hurt you?” Korra feels like crying and soon, she realizes, she is. “You should hate me, but all you ever do is take care of me! Why the hell do you even like me? I’m supposed to be the Avatar, I’m supposed to be this great spiritual leader, but I can’t even help you!” Her hands reach out for Asami, wanting to embrace her, but no longer feeling worthy of the comfort. 

Asami gently takes Korra’s hands and lets them rest on her hips, wrapping her own arms around the younger girl’s shoulders, ”Korra, I’m still alive, you know that, I’m fine, we’re both fine,” Asami pulls her closer and Korra feels herself flush, “Korra, I don’t blame you because none of that was your fault. My mom chose to save you, she knew the risks involved and she made her own decision,” Asami’s eyes meet her own, and Korra feels like green is a poor descriptor for what they look like at that moment, “And I didn’t grow up without a family either, you’re my family, right?” 

Korra realizes that Asami is asking an actual question, “Yeah, I mean yes, we are,” Korra says in between her hiccups. Korra’s crying even harder at the revelation. Asami lets Korra spill tears into her hair. 

“Shhh, shhhh, it’s okay,” Asami says as she rubs tiny circles into her spine. 

“You’re doing it again, you’re always taking care of me,” Korra makes the attempt at a joke, she knows their discussion is far from over, but is willing to let the matter drop for now. 

“I know, but just let me, it makes me feel better too, I like being with you Korra, I wouldn’t have come with you otherwise,” Asami smiles, and though the embers of the fire have long since gone out its blinding. 

Korra wants to offer her the stars and moon, and a promise to never go. To never let anything else bad happen to the other girl. But for now, she just lets Asami hold her. 

-

Korra runs back to their camp one day with big news. There was a circus set up a couple towns over. Korra was so excited that it took several tries to get what exactly a circus was out of her. 

“Asami! Come on we have to go!” Korra begged. 

“Korra I have to work tomorrow morning,” Asami says, usually the rational one of the pair. Days at the shop are long, and as the lowest member of the totem pole she ends up with cleanup duties more often than not. 

“Asami, please, the circus never comes around, we have to go! I heard they have a polar bear dog! We’d get to see one up close!” Korra makes a pretty good impression of a polar bear dog puppy and Asami can’t help but relent. Luckily quite a few people from Gaoling are headed to the circus so it’s easy to catch a ride. They’ve gotten pretty good at hitchhiking, so it’s not hard to convince someone to give them a ride. It’s a bumpy half hour to the spot where the circus had set up, but Korra’s excitement was contagious and Asami feels the time fly by. 

The polar bear dog was adorable. Well, it wasn’t really a dog yet, it was only a pup. It’s eyes were only partially open and it’s face was all scrunched up but it was the cutest thing that either of them had ever seen before. The polar bear dog took to Korra immediately, even coming up to her and licking her hand through the bars of its cage. Asami thinks that maybe it could sense that they were both from the same place. The rest of the circus is less than spectacular though. Most of the animals are malnourished and have mangy fur. The carnies don’t seem to have any experience taking care of animals and seem to just leave the animals in cages to avoid their responsibilities. She does some quick calculations, there were well over 200 people attending the circus at 15 yuan a head; there was more than enough in that budget to properly take care of their animals. She bristles at the thought. 

The main performance is much  _ much _ worse, a bunch of tiger-lions jump through flaming hoops and end up with signed furs, the Ringmaster whips animals into line. He’s cruel and they can tell from a mile away that the animals are afraid of him. 

As they’re leaving Korra pulls her aside and lets everything that she had pent up throughout the show spills out, “We can’t leave them here, we have to save them!” Asami readily agrees and the two begin to formulate a plan. The circus only planned on staying for another couple of days so they work quickly.

The next night, after a full day and night of manic and meticulous planning, they drive out to the circus again. Asami borrows a Satomobile from the shop for their purposes, it’s an older model that was built with heavier metals, so hopefully, it would stand up to the weight of a young polar bear dog puppy. She’s never actually driven a Satomobile at this point, but she learns a lot on the way over. She knows enough to start and stop the car, which is hopefully enough. 

She and Korra wait out in the parking area while patrons file out of the big top. Korra heads out to scope out the layout of the cages. Asami had borrowed a knife from the shop to slash the tires of the carnies cars, it would be harder for people to follow them without a vehicle. She’s careful to damage them in a way that can be repaired. Before she slashes the first tire she sends up a quick prayer to the spirits that they will forgive them for what they were about to do. She feels guilty for a half second then continues slashing tires. She shoots Korra the signal and then pulls the bolt cutters out of the trunk of the car. She follows Korra to where the animals are held. 

All is going well, most of the animals were running free, between the bolt cutters and Korra’s firebending the locks were history. That was until Korra accidentally lit a tent on fire. The fire spreads quickly and with no water to put it out they just try to evacuate as quickly as possible. Asami rushes out to check the other tents before the fire spread. Double checking all the cages before making her escape Korra notices that one of the clowns was still in the tent, she has to drag him out of the tent by the collar of his very large clown suit. The clown was thrashing around as Korra tried to drag him to safety, not helping in the least. Once he’s out of the tent he’s nearly catatonic. Korra thinks it’s safe enough to try and mitigate the bruing tents, bending a quick  earth tunnel around the tent quickly burning to the ground. Her tight focus is ripped away from her as she hears a too clear voice saying something that she never hoped to hear. “You just bended more than two elements,” the clown stammers out, his makeup running from the heat, “You’re the A-”, before he can finish Asami hits him with the bolt cutters. 

“I’ve cleared the other tents, let’s get out of here.” 

“Go grab the car, the polar bear dog is in the ringmaster’s quarters, I’ll grab it and meet you there!” 

“Ok, be careful,” Asami replies and the two head in opposite directions. 

The ringmasters quarters are one of the few places not scorched by the heat. Korra finds the trailer easily and breaks the door down. The polar bear dog is in a too small cage in the corner and the red hot anger at the sight helps her melt the lock off in seconds. She pulls the large mass of fur out of the cage into her arms. The pup is about the size and weight of some of the kids she carries on a regular basis so it’s not hard to lift it over her shoulder and run. She makes it out the door before being confronted by a smoldering ringmaster. 

“Where do you’re going with my property?” He says coldly, the heat around them apparently not affecting him. 

“She’s not yours anymore,” Korra barks back, pulling the polar bear dog further onto her shoulder.  She didn’t need to win against him, she just needed to hold him off long enough for them to get away. 

“You little brat!” The ringmaster tries to shout over the roaring flames, although Korra can barely hear him at this point, “You’ve ruined my circus! This was my life’s work!” Korra hears that last part, but can’t really bring herself to care about a man that willfully abused animals. She sees him adjust his body ever so slightly into a fighting stance and she readies herself as best she can. 

The ringmaster tries throw a whip of fire at her but Korra redirects it easily, throwing it back at him. He tries block it but Korra trips him up with some loose gravel and he’s stunned long enough that Korra has time to make the earth swallow him up to his neck. And she knows that it’s dangerous for anyone to have seen her bending more than one element but she can’t help but gloat. “Good luck.” A cheeky smiles spreads across her face. She waves and is off. 

Korra arrives at the rendezvous point a little late but with everything still working. At this point, the circus was, well, a circus. Animals running free everywhere, clowns running for their lives and other employees just watching it all go down in flames. It was time for them to get out of there before any authorities showed up. 

Asami attempts to coax the Polar Bear Dog into the car before giving up and asking Korra to help, “Korra, can you please get the polar bear dog in the car?” She whisper yells at the other girl. 

“Her name is Naga,” Korra whisper yells right back. 

“You named her?” Asami yells exasperatedly, “We can talk about this later, just get her in the car!” Asami yells the last part for real and quickly covers her mouth. Korra lifts the puppy into the car and leaps into the passenger seat. Asami puts the car in drive and floors it. She's’ thankful for all the practice she gon in on the way over because there’s no room for error anymore. They’re out of there like a wolfbat outta hell. 

_ Naga  _ licks them non-stop when they finally get back to the campsite. 

-

“Tell us a story,” Korra would ask her that every night since Naga came into their lives.  _ Don’t you want Naga to grow up to be big and strong? She needs a story to fall asleep.  _ Asami indulges her because Korra’s sad face is far worse than anything Naga could throw at her. It had been a long time since she had told Korra a story, not since before the compound. 

“Once upon a time there was an Avatar named Lan, they were born in a small Earth Kingdom Village. It was so small that Lan wasn’t discovered to be the Avatar until they were almost thirty.”

“Thirty? That’s so old! How did Lan not notice that they could bend more than one element?” Korra gesticulates wildly, angry at her past self for being so stupid. Asami can barely contain the fit of giggles that threatens to overtake her. Korra playfully shoves her and Asami returns in kind. 

“Maybe they just never tried,” Asami offers, and Korra seems happy enough with the explanation to let the story continue, “And so, Lan began their Avatar training. They had already mastered Earthbending so they headed west to the Fire Nation. On the ship ride to the Fire Nation Lan’s boat ran aground on a small island. Everyone on the boat miraculously survived, but they found something strange on the island. There was an entire village of people on the island. People could interact with spirits. ” Through the dying embers of the campfire, Asami can see Korra’s rapt attention. “On the island, giant lotuses sprouted from the ground every day and every day the villagers would lounge by a new plant and eat it’s leaves until they fell asleep. After only a week on the island everyone had forgotten why they would want to ever leave the island, they grew to love communicating with the spirits and relaxing all day,” Korra’s playing with her hair, loosely braiding the left side of her head, “Lan soon realized that the whole island was a Spirit Wild. The spirits on the island ate the Lotuses and when the humans ate them they could communicate with the spirits.” Korra looks at her with wonderment, she has yet to talk with any of their past lives, “Lan talked with their past lives and none of them had heard of this strange plant before.”

Korra liked to hear Asami’s stories. Asami’s mom had been a historian, so Asami knew all the stories of past Avatars. Well maybe not all, but much more than the White Lotus did. All they had cared about was her training. 

“One day Lan devised a plan, they would prevent some of the villagers from eating any lotuses for several days and see if they could convince the islanders to try and leave, gradually the villagers lost the ability to talk to spirits, but Lan found that they still didn’t want to leave the island.” 

“Why did they eat the Lotuses in the first place?”

“It was the only food on the island, and it made them feel good, everything was okay when you ate the Lotuses. Also, many of the islanders liked being able to communicate with the spirits, if they stopped they wouldn’t be able to do that anymore.” 

“So it was possible for humans and spirits to live in peace?” Korra had remembered the stories of spirits that stole children away from their parents in the dead of night. This hardly fit into that narrative. But, Korra thought, she was the Avatar, she was part spirit herself. But, there was still a cost for them to live in peace. 

“Kind of? They were able to communicate with the spirits but they had to give up something else to do it,” Asami wishes that she had a better answer for her, “We don’t know for sure, Lan’s story is very fuzzy, it was so long ago.”

“There has to be a better way for spirits and humans to live together,” Korra declares to the night sky. Naga raises her head and licks Korra in response. 

“Maybe that can be your job,” Asami says it with all seriousness, but cannot help but yawning as she says it. She can just barely see Korra look at her like the stars in the sky. With absolute wonder. 

“Why did Lan let them keep eating the Lotus leaves?”

“Because that’s what they wanted to do, and you shouldn’t force people to do things that they don’t want to do,” Asami remembered this story well, her mother had taken great joy in regailling her the tale of Avatar Lan. She had said that there wasn’t a moral to Lan’s story. Not really at least. Asami didn’t understand it at the time, and she’s still not sure she understands it now. Her mother had said that it was okay. 

“But, they just left all those people there!” 

“My mom said that we all have to make our own decisions, and Lan decided to let the villagers choose their own destiny, and even if it was a bad decision it was theirs.”

“How does the story end?”

“Lan, content with their findings, on the lotus leaves, decided to leave the island by themselves, eventually they washed ashore in the Fire Nation and continued their training to become a fully realized Avatar,” Asami had always wondered what part of that story was really true and what was purely legend, telling the story again now made it seem like any of it could have been real or fake, “Lan tried, years later to find that island again, but they never did, and the Lotuses were never seen again.” 

Korra hums in response, not entirely content with the ending, but accepting it at face value. Asami curls next to her to and they fall into a comfortable darkness. 

-

Korra’s earthbending was getting better. That was an understatement, she may not have been at the level of master yet, but she was good enough to beat all of her classmates in sparring matches. Her teachers had commented several times at her progress over the past few years. 

With that information came the knowledge that they would have to find passage to the Fire Nation soon. A change of scenery would be good for them, neither of them had ever been to the Fire Nation and it was an exciting prospect to finally see that part of the world. 

Asami puts in her notice at the shop and they start making plans to head west towards a port city that would take them to the Fire nation. 

Naga had grown quite a bit in the months since the circus. Large enough that they could use her to carry some of their supplies as they trekked back across the Earth Kingdom. The journey takes them several months and by the time they’ve finally reached a shore, they find themselves on the outskirts of Republic City. 

Their plan had been simple. Sneak into Republic City, board a ship to the Fire Nation and evade the White Lotus’ capture once again. This plan was complicated by a several hundred pound fluffball called Naga. A loose Polar bear Dog attracted more attention than they had intended. 

Metalbending Cops had been everywhere. Asami and Korra had tried to fight off as many as they could but they didn’t want to disclose Korra’s avatar status and Chi-Blocking didn’t work on people wearing metal armor. They’re apprehended far quicker than either of them will admit and are dragged kicking and screaming to the police station. 

-

Hiroshi Sato saw the teenagers sitting in the jail cell and at first glance didn’t think anything of it. Teenagers were always putting their noses in places it didn’t belong. That was the very reason he was at the Police Station that day. Some young Triad wannabes had broken into one of his factories on a dare and he wanted them caught. His earlier calls had been ignored so a direct approach was best. 

One of the girls looked up from the private conversation for a second to look at him, and Hiroshi thinks he’s seen a ghost. Memories of Yasuko flash through his mind. He rushes out of the station without talking to any of the officers. There’s a phone booth outside the station that he rushes into to catch his breath. After a minute that manages to stretch out for what feels like an hour, he picks up the phone and dials his private investigator. 

“Bai, I need all the information you can get on Yasuko,” there’s urgency in his tone, why, he’s not quite sure. 

“Same Yasuko from a couple years ago?” He can almost hear Bai’s smirk from the other end of the phone. Bai would be the type of person to know about his affair. Bai knew more secrets than anyone else in the city. That was the only reason Hiroshi associated with him. Bai played all sides of the gang wars, didn’t overly associated with any one organization and would do anything for the right price. 

“Yes, the same one,” Hiroshi says through gritted teeth. 

“Meet me at the Platypus Bear Tavern in forty-five minutes, come alone, we can discuss payment later,” the line cuts off and Hiroshi heads to his Satomobile. 

Exactly forty-five minutes later he’s sitting in a booth in the back corner of the Platypus Bear Tavern. Two minutes later, Bai slides into the other side of the booth. 

“You’re late,” Hiroshi wouldn’t have commented on it if it weren’t so unusual. Bai was punctual and efficient to a fault. 

“It took longer than I thought to find what you were lookin’ for,” He offers him a crooked smile and Hiroshi can see the gold front tooth flash even in the low light. 

“Get on with it.” 

“Yasuko was born to Jiro and Hanae in 130 AG. They list her birthplace as Republic City, but that was back when the United Republic didn’t officially recognize settlements outside of Republic City, so her exact birthplace is unknown, from what I can figure she joined the White Lotus as a historian, do you remember that book that came out about Avatar Aang? She wrote that, of course you probably knew that already,” Bai lets out a haughty puff of air before continuing, “She had a daughter about fifteen years ago in Republic City. They moved to the South Pole when the girl was five or six and that’s where the records started to thin out, the only other information I got on her is her death certificate, Yasuko died almost nine years ago.”

Hiroshi lets the shock of hearing about Yasuko’s death wash over him only for a minute, there would be time to unpack all of that at a later time, “Any birth records on the girl?” Bai slides a manilla folder across the table as an answer to the question. 

“Her birth certificate doesn’t list a father, but the dates match enough that you may be right,” Bai smiles like a cheshire cat owl, “Are you willing to risk that?” That was the million yuan question, wasn’t it. Bai smiles again and leaves a locker key on the table as he slides out of the booth. Hiroshi studies the file carefully, weighing out his options. 

-

Tenzin comes to collect them at the Police Station. Lin having had contacted him as soon as she recognized Korra in the police report. “Hello Korra, hello Asami,”  he says curtly.

“Hi Tenzin, lovely to see you again,” Asami says candidly, “it's been a long time since we’ve seen you, how are the kids?” she smiles brightly, hoping to catch him off guard enough that they can escape. She had met Tenzin only once before, he and Pema had taken a short trip to the South Pole to visit Katara back when Pema was pregnant with Meelo. 

“The kids are good, Meelo’s a bit of a handful, but thankfully they are all healthy,” he turns away for a second, during that second Asami motions for Korra to make a break for it, but Tenzin grabs both of their wrists before they can get far. He takes them back to Air Temple Island to wait for the White Lotus to arrive. 

“Tenzin, you really don’t have to keep an eye on us, it’s not like we’re a flight risk,” Korra smiles trying to disarm him enough to try and escape again. 

“You two just tried to escape less than twenty minutes ago,” Tenzin’s face gets as red as an apple as he says it, and the pair can’t help but snicker, “I’m not supposed to let you out of my sight, you two managed to disappear for two years, I know better than to let you two out of my sight.”

“Tenzin if you just looked the other way for like five minutes we could pretend that you never saw us, we could be in the Fire Nation by the end of the week!” Korra tries to reason with him, or at least make sure she’s being heard. 

“Lin’s already filed a police report and the White Lotus has already been contacted, even if you escaped you wouldn’t make it far.” 

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,” Asami says under her breathe as the two are dragged from the police station. 

Tenzin ends up locking them in one of the open dormitory rooms with Air Acolytes posted at every possible entrance. They lock Naga in the stables with the Sky Bison, hoping that if the girls manage to escape they wouldn’t leave her behind. Korra tries to earthbend a path out through the ground but the Air Acolytes catch on quickly and stop her. So, all she does is ruin the tatami mats in the room. 

With their plans foiled Korra and Asami have nothing better to do but lay on the floor in the center of the room. 

“What do you think they’ll do to us?” Korra groans out, imagining the work schedule the White Lotus would probably put them through. 

“They can’t do too much, they need us alive,” Asami deadpanned.  _ Well, they need Korra alive, the White Lotus had proven that Asami was more or less expendable the last time they were in the South Pole.  _ She grimaces at the thought. Thanking the spirits that Korra couldn’t see her face from her current vantage point, 

“At least we’ll be able to see Mom and Dad again,” Korra wonders if her parents were doing okay, if they had worried when they were gone, if the White Lotus had even told them they were gone. 

“Yeah, we left kinda abruptly last time,” Korra lets out a short staccato laugh at the other girl’s attempt at humor, and Asami indulges her with her own sardonic chuckle.

They are interrupted by the sound of a door sliding open, “Asami, there’s someone here that wants to talk to you,” one of the Air Acolytes motions for her to follow him. They both stand up immediately and move towards the door. “Just Asami,” he clarifies when he sees Korra stand up as well. 

“But-” Korra starts but is cut off. 

“No buts, they just want to talk with Asami,” 

“I’ll be fine Korra, don’t worry,” Asami reassures her as she is escorted out of the room. 

-

“Hello,” Hiroshi offers her his hand, the girl doesn’t take it. Instead, she sits down quickly and meets his eyes dead on. She’s dressed in rags, thin and rather gaunt by any standards. But he’d recognize her eyes anywhere—they belong to his mother. Other than that the girl was almost a carbon copy of Yasuko.

“I know you’re not a cop, so why are you talking with me?” She’s direct, and Hiroshi can appreciate that. She leans back in the chair with an unnatural practiced ease, like she’d done it before but would never willingly choose the position. 

“My name is Hiroshi Sato, and I have some information that you may be interested in,” the girl only raises her eyebrow, the gesture looks quite like one he sees in the mirror. “I believe that you may be my daughter,” the girl,  _ Asami _ , doesn’t even bat an eyebrow. Instead, she lets the chair fall loudly back onto four legs, then she leans casually to one side and challenges him to continue. He decides to cut right to the chase “I am willing to discuss leniency for your friend if you agree to come with me.”

“Why would you want me?” She doesn’t ask why they would need leniency, if he already knew that she had been arrested, there was no telling what else he knew. 

“My wife and I lost our son a couple years ago, we have no other children and are in need of an heir,” Hiroshi interlaces his fingers and rests his head against them. Watching for his daughter’s response. “We have a problem and I believe that you could be our solution.”

“How do you know that I’m even your child?” Asami will not admit to being curious, but at that moment she wants the answer more than anything in the world. 

Hiroshi slides the file that Bai had procured for him only hours earlier across the table. He watches as she thumbs through the small stack of papers. “There’s no concrete evidence,” she concludes after not much thought. She didn’t need to think about it, she already knew the answer. She was far more interested in his answer. 

“I don’t need there to be, what I need is an heir,” he knows that there are other solutions, but this is the best one by far, “I know that you and your friend are running from the White Lotus, and I know that there’s bound to be dire consequences from evading them for so long, I am willing to discuss liencey with them in exchange for your cooperation.” 

“The White Lotus is not easily bought.”

“You’d be surprised how much money can buy,” he challenges, “Here is my card, call me when you make your decision,” he doesn’t notice Asami’s look of careful contemplation. 

“I’ll come with you if you can do that for me,” Asami knew that she should think about this more, but her decision had been made the moment Hiroshi had demonstrated that he had actual power. “I don’t want Korra punished at all, she should be able to leave the compound at will, and I want her to be able to see her family whenever she wants,” Hiroshi commits these requests to memory easily. 

“That can be arranged,” he leaves without another word. 

-

“What did that guy want to talk to you about?” Korra asks immediately, not waiting for Asami to fully enter the room.  

Asami settles herself against the wall before answering Korra’s question. Korra sits next to her, awaiting something bad, she offers her hand and Asami takes it. “He’s my father, and he wants me to come live with him,” she squeezes Korra’s hand lightly at the admittance. “He has my file, and it’s not certain but he may be my father, and he asked me to come and live with him in Republic City.” Asami had already decided to not tell Korra about the rest of the deal he had made. 

“Are you going to do it?” Korra feels incredibly selfish when she hopes that Asami will say no. 

“I don’t know, but I think I want to know where I come from,” and Korra knows Asami well enough that her mind is already made up. Asami had never been curious about her father because, in her eyes, she had no father. Meeting him and being offered the chance to get to know him within minutes of each other was a difficult offer to pass up. Korra couldn’t blame her for that. 

Korra nods sadly before offering her friend a genuine smile. “I’m happy for you, but I’ll miss you a lot.” 

“I’ll miss you too.” Asami takes the chain around her neck off and offers it to Korra without hesitation. Korra remembers that the ring had been her mother’s. It was one of the few things that Asami still had that belonged to her mother. “As a good luck charm, your Earthbending exam won’t know what hit them,” she smiles at the thought. It’s more sad and wistful than she’d like. 

“Asami I can't take this,” Korra knew of its significance and didn’t want to rob Asami of it. 

“Please, I want you to have it,” “I know that you’d never forget me, but I want you to have it, you can give it back to me when you come to Republic City for your airbending training.”

Korra smiles at the thought, it wasn’t a parting gift, it was a promise to see each other again, “Okay,” Asami smiles gratefully and helps Korra place the chain around her neck. Korra turns around, allowing Asami to admire her handiwork. The necklace clashed with Korra’s outfit but Asami thinks that it suited her all the same. 

“You’ll write me right?” 

“Of course! As much as I can!” 

They laid on the floor of the room and talked about everything and nothing until one of the acolytes comes back into the room long after the sun had set. 

“Avatar Korra, the White Lotus’ ship has just arrived, it’s time to go.” 

“Bye Korra,” Asami pulls her into one last embrace. 

“Bye Asami, I promise, I’ll master firebending in no time, we’ll be back in the same city soon.” 

Separately they leave the island. And for the first time in nearly ten years  Korra and Asami are seperated. And the world becomes both bigger and smaller. 


End file.
